Means for measuring the length, speed, and continuity of webs



Feb 26, 1929. 1,703,387

C. E. BRA-UN MEANS FOR MEASURING THE LENGTH, SPEED, AND CONTINUITY OF wsas Filed Ju1 27, 1922 mjliui Patented Feb. 26, 1929. t

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARL E. BRAUN, OF CAMAS, WASHINGTON.

MEANS FOR MEASURING THE LENGTH, SPEED, AND CONTINUITY OF WEBS.

Application filed July 27, 1922. Serial No. 577,957.

My invention relates to means for measurand the electric circuits of these devices are ing the length, speed and continuity of a web controlled by a. switch provided with a conf t iah trol member bearing on and supported by a Indicating devices of this character, as span of the web. These devices are so arheretofore constructed, have been actuated ranged that the electric circuits of the elecby a driven roller on the machine, which is in tric meter and the computing device are turn driven. by the passing of the moving closed and the electric circuit of the alarm web. It can be readily seen that when the are open. when the control member of said web is broken the driven roll ill rotate sevswitch is supported by said span of web and eral times before it is brought to rest, due to these circuits will be oppositely arranged its inertia and the speed at which it is driven. when said span of web fails to support said This does not therefore give an accurate control member, thus interrupting the opera check upon the material, as arbitrary deduct-ion of the indicating devices and sounding tions have to be made for each break and the alarm when an abnormal condition in the 15 also connections have to be made for slippage feeding of the web exists. between the web of material and the roll. The details of construction and operation These machines are also partially mcchaniand incidental features of my invention are cal in their operation and therefore the re hereinafter fully described and illustrated in cording device can not be placed at some disthe accompanying drawings, in which 2o tant point as in the superintendents oflice, Fig. l is a diagrammatic representation of for instance, but must be mounted adjacent the switch which controls my machine, in the machine. But, in my device the recordplace riding on a taut Web of paper; ing instruments can be placed any distance Fig. 2 is a. plan view of one type of recordirom, the machine because the connections bcmg instrument which can be connected with 25 tween said recording devices and the moving my device; and web are wholly electrical. The instruments Fig. 3 is a diagram of the electrical system from all of the machines can be placed toof my device. gether for this reason and can be watched My invention is adapted to be fitted to a over by one individual who can note the frame 1 of a machine which carries a moving an amount of the output and. the rate of output, web of material 2, and is specifically devised so and the warnings indicated by these devices to measure the paper which passes thru a show when the machines break down. paper making machine. The paper is mount- The object of my invention is to provide ed over driven rolls 3 which are mounted in an all electric indicating and recording desuitable bearings & mounted on the frame 1.

vice which will measure in lineal units the The paper passing over the roll is stretched s5 amount oi web passing a given point both as taut between these rolls. The control arm 10 to rate and. amount of output and which will of the switch 5 rests on this paper between stop the inrhmrtine devices and preferably at two of the driven rolls and is positioned so thesame time sound an alarm the instant a that when the paper is taut the switch will 40 break occurs in the web oi uuiterial being he held in operating position but when the 111921.514! L paper slackened or broken the switch will A ilurther object is to provide a device be thrown from its operating position to its which is especially adapted for paper makinopera-itive position and will actuate an inn machines which will measure their outalarm. The switch is made up of an upright 45 put, and also provide a recording device piece 6 on which are pivotally mounted horiwhich also records the rate at which the mazontal pieces 7 and 8. The pivoted horizonchine travels at all times during the day. ta-l member 7 is yieldingly held by springs To this end my invention comprises an elec- 9 which tend to hold the member horizontal. trio meter, electrically operated computing The member 8 is allowed to hang free and so device, and. an electrically operated alarm, has a control arm 10 on one end, which overbalances the opposite end thus when the spoon is not supported it will fall of its own weight.

(Jo-operating contact points 11, 12 and 13 are carried by these horizontal members, con tacts 11 and 12 being held together when the spoon is supported by the moving web and are broken and contact 13 is made when the paper is broken or slackened and the spoon is al lowed to fall. Contact 11 controls the flow of electricity through the line 14 which is connected with a generator 15 which is mounted so as to be rotated by the end of the shaft 15 on which onedriven roll 3 is mounted. The generator is connected in series with the volt meter 17 by the line 16. The other side of the volt meter is connected to thebottom half of the contact 11 by the line 18. The volt meter is a standard recording voltmeter and its arm 19 is rotated in a clockwise direction by an increase in current in the line due to the increase in rotation of the generator 15. The arm 19 is connected to the rod 20 which is slidably mounted in the bracket 21. A stylus 22 is fastened to the end of the arm 21 and is adapted to record on the moving chart 23. The chart 23 is wound around the rollers 24.- and 24:. The roller 2st is actuated by a clock mechanism 26 which moves the chart at fixed speed. The charthas longitudinal and transverse lilies, the longitudinal lines designating the speed at which the paper is made and the transverse lines corresponding with the hour of the day at which the machine is running. It can be seen that the faster the paper is run the greater potential the generator will develop, therefore the farther the arm of the volt meter will be extended in a clockwise direction. The arm being connected to the horizontally movable arm 20 will cause the stylus to be moved to the right as shown in Fig. 2 and thus will register 'arther towards the right hand edge of the chart.

The line 27 connects the upper point of con.- tact 12 with the winding of the solenoid 28. The armature .29 of the solenoid is pivot-ally attached to the pawl mechanism 30. WVhen the solenoid is energized it draws this armature back and moves the pawl mechanism one notch. 1V hen the current is released the armature is returned to its normal position by the action of the spring 31. The pawl is then in position to draw the ratchet 32 forward another tooth. The other end of the solenoid winding is connected by the line 33 to the fixed contact 33 The roll 3 1 has a rotating contact 35 positioned so that when. the roll ro tates the rotating contact will strike the fixed contact once each rotation. The line contact is attached to a commutator 36 on the shaft of the roll and a brush 37 is in constant contact with the commutator. The line 38 connects the battery to the brush 3?. The other side of the battery is connected to the lower point of the contact 12 by the line v39, thus making the lrcuit when the contact points are closed. It

can be seen that when the contact points are closed the solenoid will be energized once each revolution of the driven wheel 34 and thus the ratchet will correspondingly be rotated one tooth.

This ratchet mechanism actua'tes a series of dials 40 which are geared as ordinary meter dials, first being for units, second for tens, third for hundreds, and fourth for thousands, or any similar designations. When the circumference of the roll is determined it is easy to figure the lineal feet of paper passed there by because the circumference of the roll will be in contact with the paper constantly and therefore the number of rotations of the roll multiplied by its circumference will correspond with the lineal feet of the paper passed thru the machine. Of course, it is also practical to calibrate the indicators so that they will register directly in lineal feet of material passing.

Contact 13 is normally open but is closed when the paper in the machine is slacked or broken. The upper part of the contact 13 is connected to the signal light 41 by the line 42. The other side of the light ll is connected to the battery by the line 43. The circuit from the other side of the battery is made thru the line 39 which is also connected to the lower point of Contact 12. v

I claim:

1. Means for measuring a continuous web comprising an electric generator, a rotatable member connected to said generator, an electrically operated measuring instrumentalit-y energized by said generator, means for supporting a section of the web in tension, a switch in the electric circuit of said instrumentality, said switch including a member arranged to bear on said tensioned section thereby to close the said electric circuit whereby said electric circuit is opened and said in strumentality rendered inoperative when said tensioned section of the web breaks.

Means for measuring a continuous web of material. comprising means for supporting a s ction of said wel substantiallytaut,a roller arranged to be revolved by frictional contact with said taut section of web, an electric generator driven by the rotation of said roller, an electrically operated measuring instrumentaiity energized by said generator. a switch in the electric circuit of said instmunentalit v a meml er operating said. switch arranged to bear on said taut section of the web, therebv to close the electric. circuit whereby said electric circuit is opened and said instrumentality rendered inoperative when said taut section of web breaks.

3. Means for measuring a continuous travelling web of material, comprising means for supporting a section of the web in a plane, an electrically actuated measuring instrument energised contemporaneonsly with the travel of said web, a switch in the electric circuit of CPI said measuring instrument, said switch held closed by said web section, whereby the opening of said switch will indicate the rupture of said web section.

4. In means for measuring a continuous web tensioned by being drawn over spaced supports, a rotatable member over which said web is drawn and which is rotated by the web,

an electric generator driven by said member, an electrically actuated measuring device, and a switch in the electric circuit of said measuring device, said switch having a member supported by said web when in tension whereby said electric circuit is broken when the tension of said web is released.

CARL E. BRAUN. 

